Aurigny’s chairman says he expects the British Airways Heathrow to Guernsey route to fail.
Kevin George said he wrote to the States in March, when the possibility of a subsidised Heathrow route was first reported, outlining his concerns.
He said it was “frustrating” and “difficult to understand” why the States was subsidising a service that would compete with its own airline.
Economic Development declined to comment and British Airways has not responded to the BBC’s request for a response.
Aurigny met members of Economic Development three days before the announcement was made to outline the “concerns and consequences” of the Heathrow service.
Mr George acknowledged the new service was good for connectivity, but said from Aurigny’s perspective it felt unco-ordinated.
“Whatever way we react to this, will be to ensure that should the Heathrow route fail, and personally, I think it will at some point, that we have not damaged the connectivity to the island, because again, it will all come back to us,” he said.
Mr George said the history of Heathrow from Guernsey “isn’t that good” but Aurigny needed to work through the “ramifications” of the new route.
“We will work through what the consequences will be,” he said. “Whether we need to trim some services, but all the time in the back of our mind will be that we don’t want to do any permanent damage to the connectivity.”
